Sunday, January 1, 2017

Poem: Weird Winter Weather

I can’t say I’ve ever known what normal feels like. I’ve
never lived in one house for more than three years. I’ve never experienced a
white Christmas, unless you count a white-sand beach. I know more about
sailing, fencing, and Tae Kwon Do than I do American football. And wherever I
go, I usually hear the words “warmer than usual” in reference to the weather.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve experienced my fair share of cold
winters. One year, it snowed the week before Spring Break, and we got four days
off, a pre-Spring Break break. I got so bored with not doing homework and
finally gave in to joining the girls on my floor in a Lord of the Rings
marathon.

Another time, we got a snow day at school, and my friends decided to
walk downtown in the snow. It was a lovely several-mile walk, and we stopped
for coffee. But the moment we set foot outside again, we couldn’t handle it. We
called somebody else to come pick us up. My friends caught cold. I didn’t.

Maybe warm weather follows me around like it’s my
superpower. Maybe I’ve just happened to live an unusual life. Either way, my
time spent in England was no exception. I didn’t get burned the entire summer I
spent in Italy, but I burned in England—in January. Perhaps it’s time to stop
stereotyping winter as a perpetually snowy time with dreary days. After all,
winter, like well-developed characters, can change from north of the equator
and south of the equator, from country-to-country, and from day-to-day.

Weird Winter Weather

It’s that odd January morn’, you
know the one,

where the daft daffodils spring
their heads up to sing, “Good morning!”

and where the sun
stifles a yawn and carelessly tosses back the clouds,

asking you if it’s not time to wake
from a dreary doze.

A western wind whispers that it’s
still winter, so hold onto your coat,

but nobody can hear him over mocking
magpies

or the scampering, trotting joy of
the bulldog.

The States may be choking on
snowdrifts, but

the citizens of Nottingham are out
for a walk today,

hoping to keep the thoughts of a
blasted blizzard at bay,

even as the sun rolls over and pulls
the grey sheets back over his head.